Chapter 10
Malthus in Africa:
Rwanda’s Genocide
Where is the Rwandan Society?
Landlocked between Tanzania, Burundi, Uganda and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Population Growth
• Very densely populated in the early 19th
century because of the countries altitude.
– Too high for tsetse flies and other carriers of
diseases, specifically Malaria.
• Moderate rainfall supported agriculture.
• The population has been growing at a
consistent 3% per year.
• The population doubles approximately
every 18 to 19 years.
Malthusian Theory
• Thomas Malthus proposed in 1798 that a societies
resources will be replenished arithmetically while
humans reproduce exponentially, thus causing an
inevitable agricultural shortage.
7000
6000
5000
4000
Population
Resources
3000
2000
1000
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Population Density
• Along with Burundi, Rwanda is one of the most densely
populated countries in Africa.
• Nigeria is the third most densely populated country in
Africa, but only ¼ the concentration of Rwanda
• 1990 – Even after mass killings and exiling, there was
an estimated 760 people per square mile.
– In comparison, the density of the United Kingdom is 610
people/mile squared and Holland is 950 people/mile squared
The Hutu
•Make up 85% of the population in
Rwanda
•The leader of the Hutu government was
Habyarimana
•Considered to have less power than the
Tutsi during the European colonialism
period
•Shared the same language and culture
as the Tutsi
•Major population loss during the genocide
in Rwanda
•Main economic role was being a farmer
•Carried identity cards saying they were
Hutu
The Tutsi
•
Superior to the Hutu during the
European colonization period
•
Referred to as “Cockroaches”
by the Hutu
•
800,000 Tutsi people had been
killed within a span of 6 weeks
•
Make-up 15% of the total
population in Rwanda
Violence
•The Hutu were supplied with weapons from
businessmen close to Habyarimana
•They trained their militias, imported
weapons, and prepared to attack the Tutsi
•President Habyarimana’s plane was shot
down on April 6,1994; in the plane also was
the Hutu president from Burundi
•Major massacres took place when the Hutu
organized to kill the Tutsi.
•The Hutu extremist government organized
the killings while the Hutu civilians carried
out the orders
Relations with Neighboring Countries
•
Had a close relationship with
Burundi, shared same Hutu and
Tutsi culture
•
Both became independent around
1950’s
•
Refugees escaped from Rwanda to
Burundi
•
President of Rwanda Hutu
Habyarimana and Burundi’s Hutu
president were both murdered.
•
Burundi and Rwanda suffered
Ethnic violence
French/U.S. involvement
• The U.S./French governments and the U.N. did not get involved with
the violence that was going on in Rwanda
• The U.S., French, and the U.N. all referred to the situation as
“chaos”, “a confusing situation”, and “Tribal Conflict”
Fights over land- Family fights
• There was a lot of tension between poorer
families because land was scarce.
• Families were getting into confrontation within
themselves.
• One of the main problems was that the big land
owners had money while the small land owners
were desperate for money.
• The rich bought land from the poor and kept
expanding and the poor kept selling and got
smaller.
5 Point Analysis
• Environmental Damage
– Lack of farm land lead to farming on hillsides,
which in turn created a substantial soil erosion
problem.
– Rwandan farmers do not find it uncommon to
have entire farms washed away overnight.
-Deforestation led to the drying up of streams
and irregular rainfall.
• Hostile Neighbors
– Rwanda’s issues were mostly because of a civil war,
not because of neighboring countries. However, the
genocide spread into other countries as well
(Burundi).
• Lack of support
– The US, French and U.N. all avoided the genocide
situation.
– The Congo and Tanzania accepted refugees during
the conflict, but did not intervene in the fighting.
• Climate change
– Reduced rain fall, drought and global warming.
• Societies reaction
– It is evident that the “genocide” was not
merely a racial or tribal conflict.
– In many communities, there were very few
Tutsi and mass killings still took place.
– The death toll was around 11% of the
population, Tutsi only comprised around 5%
of the population.
– This illustrates that Rwanda's reaction to their
collapse was chaotic unorganized.